Teddi Mellencamp has shared her first message following her brain tumor surgery.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum, 43, returned to social media on Tuesday, Feb. 25, to post a birthday tribute to her now 5-year-old daughter Dove.
“Happy birthday to my miracle baby. Hard to believe it’s been 5 years since you made our lives better and brighter,” her Instagram post read. “But no matter how grown you get, you’ll always be My Baby Dovey ❤️.”
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The post included a collage of mother-daughter photos and solo pics of the birthday girl.
Mellencamp has often referred to Dove as her “miracle baby” because she was conceived naturally after she and her estranged husband Edwin Arroyave, 47, experienced infertility challenges with their 12-year-old daughter Slate, and 10-year-old son Cruz.
Like her mother, Dove has also had her own set of health challenges, previously being diagnosed with lambdoid craniosynostosis, a rare condition that affects the way a skull forms after birth, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Four years after revealing that Dove would undergo surgery for her condition, Mellencamp shared in a touching Instagram post that her daughter had showed them “what a fighter she is.”
“She is such a boss. So strong. So loving. So funny. So smart. Our entire house is run by boss baby Dove and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Mellencamp wrote in July 2024.
Arroyave, who Mellencamp filed for divorce from after 13 years of marriage in November 2024, shared on his Instagram Stories a video of Dove surrounded by family, including her siblings, as she was presented a birthday cake.
“The bday cakes continue for Dove,” Arroyave wrote over the photo. Another pic showed Dove holding a donut while posing with her “birthday best friend,” and a group shot of Dove and her siblings with their grandmother, Vicky Granucci.
Mellencamp was not seen in the photos as she is currently recovering from having two tumors removed from her brain.
The former reality star shared that she was undergoing the surgery after weeks of “dealing with severe and debilitating headaches” in a health update on Instagram on Wednesday, Feb. 12.
“After a CT scan and MRI, doctors found multiple tumors on my brain, which they believe have been growing for at least 6 months,” she wrote. “Two of the tumors will be surgically removed today. The remaining smaller tumors will be dealt with via radiation at a later date.”
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Since then, Arroyave has visited her at the hospital and has shared that her surgery “went well.”
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